Monthly Archives: June 2012

Developers were first able to get their hands on the first iOS 6 beta version at the Apple WWDC earlier this month. Currently the latest version -Beta 2 is headed for those same hands.

The update features both performance updates and bug fixes. Address Book, Game Center, iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime, Maps and Safari have all received updates.

There’s a pretty cool animation used with Beta 2 that we wish would get used in app icons. When you download this update, you can see the gears moving within the Settings icon. That’s a lot more fun than just a static image.

It was only five years ago that Apple turned the mobile device industry upside down with the launch of the iPhone on June 29th, 2007. Five smartphones later, Apple keeps setting the innovation bar higher and higher – for itself, not for its competitors.

Below we have shared quarterly and yearly chart views that shows how exactly the two major products of Apple – iPhone and iPad sales trends. Apple’s latest quarter scored the following figures:

That genius has made Apple the biggest technology company in the world by far. Market research firm Strategy Analytics noted this week that since the original apple iPhone debut, all generations including the iPhone 4S have brought in a total of $150 billion in revenue from 250 million devices shipped.

As Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston described it, “The iPhone portfolio has become a huge generator of cash and profit for Apple. A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide in the first five years since launch and Apple reaches its fifth birthday at the top of its game.”

Just so we don’t let the past indicate the future for Apple, Mawston went on to say, “However, there are emerging signs that the iPhone’s next five years could get tougher. Some mobile operators are becoming concerned about the high level of subsidies they spend on the iPhone, while Samsung is expanding its popular Galaxy portfolio in particular the recently launched flagship the Galaxy S3 and providing Apple with more credible competition.”

We’ll, it looks like there just might be some substance to the patent infringement mudslinging that has been going on, at least in this one instance of the Apple vs. Samsungtablet battle.

This week, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh banned the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet from sales in the U.S. In Koh’s ruling, she stated, ”Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products.”

This ban is a victory for Apple in the U.S. where it has kept up a constant stream of patent lawsuits against its competition, but it’s probably not the huge one that Apple would like. The ban only affects the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a tablet that was introduced more than a year ago, and Samsung is almost ready with its replacement – the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

U.S.-based retailers will be allowed to sell their remaining Galaxy Tab 10.1 inventories, and the new Galaxy Tab version is not affected by the ruling.

The CyanogenMod blog finally announced the release of its CM9, Release Candidate 1 starting with 37 different devices. The first wave of devices that will be receiving their RC1 build of CyanogenMod 9 ROM include the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Xoom, Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note, ASUS Transformer and the HTC Sensation.

Watch the list of devices that can benefit from the build get longer quickly. The team made this commitment via its CyanogenMod blog, “As we’ve mentioned before, this release serves as the first wave of RC1′s. With the ‘core’ OS stabilized, our device maintainers will continue to work on their device trees to bring up more devices, this includes some of the newer releases as well as some from the older generations; but we’ll save that for another day,” the team said.

If you love flashing your Android device with a custom ROM, CyanogenMod is one of the most popular ROMs out there. It’s known for being one of the fastest and most stable custom ROMs available.

To see if you’re device has made the release candidate list, head on over to Get.CM now. If you don’t see it there yet, keep checking back.

Google kicked off its annual Google I/O developer keynote in a big way Wednesday by announcing a new version of the Android operating system, a new tablet, a media streamer, and Google+ updates, along with news on the company's Project Glass. We don’t have much in the way of details right now, but here is what we know so far:

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Jelly Bean is the next update to the Android OS (Given the revision number 4.1 versus the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich release of a couple of months ago.). Project Butter is the first phase of Google's attempt to improve Android's performance. With Project Butter, scrolling and swiping animations should be smoother than they are on older Android versions.

Jelly Bean uses a new search interface its calling "cards" to make it easier to read and digest certain types of information. As an example, if you search for the weather forecast, search cards will provide an attractive display that shows the weather conditions, temperature, and forecast in a Siri-like display.

Search cards can show things like answers to questions and image search results. It also works with Android's voice search feature.

Other Jelly Bean 4.1 improvements include an upgraded camera app and the ability to send photos and videos from one phone to another via Google Beam.

Google began its keynote address with some figures on Android activations. So far, it’s hardware partners have sold in excess of 400 million Android-based devices, and that number is increasing with more than 1 million Android phone or tablet activations every day. At last year’s Google I/O, the company announced that 100 million Android devices had shipped so far.

If you’ve been looking for root access to SIM unlock your HTC One S without waiting for permission from your service provider or paying a third-party for it, we’ve got good news. There is a way to re-set your HTC One S device so that it can be used on any GSM service provider you choose.

You may have heard awhile back that HTC Sensation owners had figured out that HTC had included that device’s SIM unlock code within the /dev/block/mmcblk0p6 block. HTC quickly got wise to their error and encrypted the actual SIM unlock code with a key generated from the phone’s IMEI number.

Not to be out-maneuvered, some crafty developers have discovered a way to generate the SIM unlock code for the HTC One S. Users will have to use their phone’s IMEI number to calculate the encryption key, and subtract that number from the UN_Lock_clode inorder to get to the phone’s SIM unlock code.

If math makes you nervous, here’s the Bash Script that automates the process.

Once SIM unlock code displays on screen (also saved to /sdcard/sim_unlock_code.txt), note the number and turn off your device

Remove the microSIM card from phone

Insert a microSIM card from another service provider and turn the HTC One S back on

When prompted, enter the SIM unlock code

This root exploit can be used to get a free SIM unlock code for a rooted HTC One S. For those who don’t want to root their device, you can ask your wireless provider if they’ll give you an unlock key (usually after 90 days of phone ownership.) You can also purchase a SIM unlock code from a third-party source. It should run you around $12.

If you want to catch a glimpse of an early build of Windows Phone 7.8 running on a Nokia Lumia 900, check out the YouTube video by a Microsoft senior manager at Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

The following video demonstrates live tile resizing in all three modes - small, medium and large – and how this affects the amount of information displayed on the tile. For example a small SMS live tile gives you the number of unread messages. A large tile provides the number of unread messages and a quick preview of them.

Microsoft has a page dedicated to announcements about upgrades in WP 7.8. If you have a Microsoft account you’ll be able to access the page here.

Among other WP 7.8 highlights are updates about a new Start screen, new ways to share contacts and track data usage, enhancements to the camera used in the NokiaLumia 900 and news about the current inventory of over 100K Windows Phone apps.

Right now, the music industry probably wants to give a great big hug to the digital music streaming company Spotify. After less than one year in business, Spotify is reported to be the No.2 source of revenue for the chronically troubled major music labels.

Business Insider reports that an anonymous source told them that Spotify has shot ahead of all its competition, well all of them except Apple and their iTunes store.

There are an estimated 23 million users of Spotify’s streaming music service. If you’re willing to put up with advertising breaks, the basic Spotify app is free. Two paid subscription levels offer ad-free music streaming.

Spotify just brought its free mobile radio to its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app. Spotify’s radio features were previously only available to desktop users. It lets you can create artist-, song- or playlist-based streaming radio stations similar to those offered by Pandora. Speaking of Pandora, that company seems to be having trouble keeping up. The company’s stock is showing it.

Market research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts that worldwide smartphone shipments will have grown by 38% from one year ago. They also caution that the rate of growth might not be sustainable in the short term due to global economic troubles.

The Strategy Analytics report did state that it expects smartphone shipments to bounce back later in the year. Both the AppleiPhone 5 and iPad 3 along couple with devices having 4G LTE connectivity should fuel new growth. Strategy Analytics called LTE “the industry’s most important segment” and predict that 4G LTE smartphone shipments will rise tenfold in 2012.

Microsoft’s new Window Phone 8 OS won’t get installed on any of the current Windows Phone devices because they are based on a different core- Windows CE (Windows Phone 7) versus Windows NT (Windows Phone 8). Windows Phone 8 will support significant improvements including multiple CPU cores and better graphics.

Microsoft’s senior marketing manager for Windows Phone Greg Sullivan stated that, while it can be done, porting WP8 on older devices would be very expensive. He also stated that the WP8 requires functions like multi-core support, higher resolution screens, NFC and microSD card support. The legacy device hardware can’t make use of Windows Phone 8 upgrades.

Microsoft is attempting to make it up to current Windows Phone users with a Windows Phone 7 update (WP 7.8). It’s most noticeable change is a more user-friendly Start screen.

Users who buy Windows Phone 8-compatible devices, will be able to migrate their Windows Phone 7 apps. There's no backwards compatibility for the newly developed WP8 apps though and there's nothing that can be done about it.

This could mean a big loss of momentum for Microsoft’s mobile OS. They’re still the new kid on the block trying to establish a reputation. This isn’t helping.